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We acknowledge the urgency of catalysing a step-change in political support and financing for the ACT- Accelerator in order to enable it to deliver on its mission of accelerating the discovery and deployment of new COVID-19 tools to all people, everywhere.
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Regions: Norway , South Africa
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
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WHO has made available the membership of the Guidelines Development Group (GDG) for the update of the WHO "Consolidated Guidelines for use of antiretrovirals for preventing and treating HIV infection."
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Today Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, and Dr Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, co-hosted the inaugural meeting of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Facilitation Council.
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Regions: Canada , China, France , Italy , Norway , Rwanda , South Africa , United Kingdom , Uzbekistan
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Global Health
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The World Health Organization’s first global report on sepsis finds that the effort to tackle millions of deaths and disabilities due to sepsis is hampered by serious gaps in knowledge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. According to recent studies, sepsis kills 11 million people each year, many of them children. It disables millions more.
But there’s an urgent ne
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Global Women's Issues
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Two years into the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ambitious effort to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the global food supply, the Organization reports that 58 countries so far have introduced laws that will protect 3.2 billion people from the harmful substance by the end of 2021. But more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these harmful substances from their food supplies.
Consumption of industrially produced trans fats are estimated to cause arou
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Regions: Canada , Iran , Nigeria , Turkey , United Kingdom , United States
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy, Global Health
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With the number of under-five deaths at an all-time recorded low of 5.2 million in 2019, disruptions in child and maternal health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic are putting millions of additional lives at stake
The number of global under-five deaths dropped to its lowest point on record in 2019 – down to 5.2 million from 12.5 million in 1990,
WHO strongly recommends supporting women to have a chosen companion during labour and childbirth, including during COVID-19.
When a woman has access to trusted emotional, psychological and practical support during labour and childbirth, evidence shows that both her experience of childbirth and her health outcome
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Regions: Lebanon
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Global Women's Issues, Human Rights and Democracy
New cases of leprosy are decreasing, but not at the anticipated rate. In order to accelerate the annual decline, countries should screen contacts and treat eligible contacts with single-dose rifampicin, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its guidelines.
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Regions: India , Indonesia , Sri Lanka
Topics: Energy, Global Health, Global Women's Issues
A three-year trial in Indonesia has produced encouraging results that show a significant reduction in the number of dengue cases. It involved the release Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in and around the dengue-endemic city of Yogyakarta.
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Regions: Indonesia
Topics: Climate and Environment, Global Health, Global Women's Issues
How have country-based malaria experts adapted to the double challenge of malaria and COVID-19? What successes have they achieved, and where are the remaining gaps? In a virtual forum on 3 September, 10 Ministry of Health representatives shared
their experiences and reflections; you can watch their presentations below.
On 4 September, participants heard from senior political and health leaders from 2 regions that are heavily impacted by malaria; you will find below the presentations of WH
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) is a global initiative with the ultimate goal of ending preventable maternal mortality to support achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets to attain an average global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of less than 70 per 100 000 live births by 2030.
By 2030, all countries should reduce their Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) by at least two thirds of their 2010 baseline level.
The supplementary national target is that
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The World Health Organization convened its first Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world that public health agencies and experts need a better understanding of how people and societies behave and make decisions in relation to their health," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General
of WHO, to whom the Technical Advisory Group will report. "WHO wants to ensure that such understanding and evid
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
This letter will focus largely on WHO’s efforts to address the double challenge of malaria & COVID-19. Our work in recent months has been carried out in close collaboration with country-based experts and global partners. We are very grateful to all of our partners for their ongoing commitment and contributions.
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Regions: Chad , China, France , Italy , Rwanda , Sierra Leone , United Kingdom
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
Pregnant women with COVID-19 are less likely than non-pregnant women with COVID-19 to have symptoms, but more likely to need intensive care if severely ill – according to new findings
New research findings published today in the BMJ help to shed light on the risks of COVID-19 for pregnant women and their babies. The paper suggests that pregnant women seen at the hospital with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are less likely to
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Regions: United Kingdom
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
Togo has received validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis or “sleeping sickness” as a public health problem, becoming the first country in Africa to reach this milestone.
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Regions: Ghana , Togo , United Kingdom
Topics: Global Health
WHO to roll out learning and monitoring tools to improve service provision during pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) today published a first indicative survey on the impact of COVID-19 on health systems based on 105 countries’ reports. Data collected from five regions over the period from March
to June 2020 illustrate that almost every country (90%) experi
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
Nigeria’s First Ladies Against Cancer (FLAC) have issued a statement in support of the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem.
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Regions: Nigeria
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
Launch of the Every Newborn Action Plan: 2025 Coverage Targets and Milestones on 3 September 2020
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Information Exchange System
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Topics: Global Women's Issues
Joint release by the World Health Organization, United for Global Mental Health and the World Federation for Mental Health
Mental health is one of the most neglected areas of public health. Close to 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide. And now, billions of people around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is having a furth
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Regions: Argentina, Peru , United Kingdom , United States
Topics: Combating Drugs and Crime, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance
Purpose of this notice: To ensure users of Thermo Fisher Scientific TaqPath™ COVID-19 CE-IVD RT-PCR kit are aware of a mandatory software update and reinforce certain parts in the instructions for use that must be followed to avoid misclassification of test results.
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched target product profiles to drive the rapid development of novel tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment today. The target product profiles characterise the most important product attributes to be considered for developing the best suited TB prevention treatments in future.
One quarter of the global population is estimated to be infected with TB and are at greater risk of developing TB disease, especially those with weakened immunity. Treatment of T
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Regions: Canada , France , Italy , United Kingdom
Topics: Global Health
- Nine CEPI-supported candidate vaccines are part of the COVAX initiative, with a further nine candidates under evaluation, and procurement conversations on-going with additional producers not currently receiving research and development (R&D) funding through COVAX – giving COVAX the largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio in the world
- 80 potentially self-financing countries have submitted non-binding expressions of interest to the Gavi-coor
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Regions: Afghanistan, Argentina, Canada , Chile, China, France , Ireland , Norway , Tonga , United Kingdom , United States , West Bank , Zambia
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation
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Today, the Africa Regional Certification Commission certified the WHO African Region as wild polio-free after four years without a case. With this historic milestone, five of the six WHO regions – representing over 90% of the world’s population
– are now free of the wild poliovirus, moving the world closer to achieving global polio eradication.
Only two countries worldwide continue to see wild poliovirus transmission: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Global Polio Eradicat
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Regions: Afghanistan, Pakistan
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
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Accurate, standardized recording and reporting of data are essential for disease control activities. Surveillance is the continued collection, collation and analysis of data and the timely dissemination of information to decision-makers for action to be taken. The new forms being introduced will also help in collecting high-quality data on Buruli ulcer to monitor progress towards the targets of the new WHO road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030.
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Topics: Global Health
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Scope (COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients affected by the pandemic)
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) call on governments to ensure that the procurement and supply of controlled medicines in countries meet the
needs of patients, both those who have COVID-19 and those who require internationally controlled medicines for other medical conditions.
There is a need to ensure access t
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Topics: Combating Drugs and Crime, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
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On 14 August Korean Ambassador, Ms Ji-ah Paik and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WHO in support of the Organization’s COVID-19 response efforts in the African region. The new MoU follows a recent call between Dr Tedros and Mr
As schools worldwide struggle with reopening, the latest data from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) reveal that 43 per cent of schools around the world lacked access to basic handwashing with soap and water in 2019 – a key condition for schools to be able to operate safely in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Global school closures since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have presented an unprecedented challenge to children’s education and
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy, Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance
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My message to the young and the young at heart:
Today as we commemorate International Youth Day, we would like to recognize the role young people play towards shaping a better future in health and beyond. The theme this year ‘Youth engagement for Global Action’ puts the spo
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Regions: Kenya , Vietnam
Topics: Global Health
Countries implementing control programmes to treat people infected with or at risk of epilepsy-associated tapeworm infection can now benefit from medicines donated to WHO. Under a five-year agreement, the German pharmaceutical company, Bayer, has agreed to donate 2.8 million tablets of niclosamide and 1.5 million tablets of praziquantel to WHO for distribution to affected countries. To benefit from this donation, a few steps and forms need to be completed.
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Topics: Energy, Global Health
It is well recognized that by developing and implementing organised disease control strategies, countries reduce their related public health and economic burdens. To encourage countries’ use of such strategies, and as part of its continued efforts to support dog-mediated rabies elimination by 2030, the OIE invites its Members, on a voluntary basis, to apply by 18 September 2020 to have their official control programmes for dog-mediated rabies endorsed.
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Topics: Global Health
Meaningful youth engagement to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights
Every day, young people are enriching institutions and processes at the local, national, and global levels.
This year, the theme of International Youth Day is "Youth Engagement for Global Action
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Regions: Turkey , United Kingdom
Topics: Global Women's Issues
Member States have adopted the global strategy for TB research and innovation through an unprecedented written silence procedure of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) last week. The global strategy was developed to support efforts by governments and other partners
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
The United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF), a mechanism that tracks and advances the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, was convened virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on 7–16 July 2020, on the theme "Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development ". Given the considerable impact of the pandemic on human health and the global economy, the Forum strongly focused on the p
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Regions: Qatar
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Global Health
A plane carrying 20 tonnes of WHO health supplies has landed in Beirut, Lebanon, to support the treatment of patients injured by the massive blast that occurred in the city on 4 August. The supplies will cover 1000 trauma interventions and 1000 surgical interventions for people suffering from injuries and burns resulting from the blast.
The shipment was airlifted from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai earlier this afternoon using a plane donated by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, a key
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Regions: Lebanon
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance
Mexico is, so far, the only country validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) for having eliminated dog-mediated human rabies as a public health problem. To encourage countries that have implemented elimination programmes as recommended by WHO and the Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), international procedures have been developed jointly by WHO and OIE, following a One Health approach. The procedures involve several steps in the preparation, submission and review of a dossier.
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Regions: Mexico
Topics: Climate and Environment, Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
Date: 7 August 2020
Subject: Substandard/Falsified medical devices and personal protective equipment (PPE) used in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
WHO-identifier: 2020/3, version 1
Type of action: Advice to users of medical devices and PPE used for prevention, treatment and care for COVID-19.<
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Regions: United Kingdom
Topics: Climate and Environment, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy, Global Health
As a science-based institution, WHO is always striving to be at the forefront of scientific progress and its potential to improve health for all. A new WHO Science Council comprising international experts from a broad range of disciplines will support WHO in interpreting cutting-edge scientific and medical knowledge, as well as the latest advances in technology.
The Science Division’s Research for Health department will facilitate the Council’s work in advising on WHO’s top scienc
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Topics: Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
The Emergency Committee on COVID-19, convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), held its fourth meeting on 31 July. In its statement following the meeting, published today, it expressed “appreciation for WHO and partners’ COVID-19 pandemic response efforts, and highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic, noting the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts.”
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Regions: China
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
The fourth meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took place on Friday, 31 July 2020 from 12:00 to 17:45
Geneva time (CEST).
Proceedings of the meeting
Members and advisors of the Emergency Committee were convened by vid
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Regions: United Kingdom
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
The theme of World Breastfeeding Week 2020 is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”. In line with this theme, WHO and UNICEF are calling on governments to protect and promote women’s access to skilled breastfeeding counselling, a critical component of breastfeeding support.
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
WHO takes this opportunity to remind Member States that are Parties to the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) of their obligations under the Convention. Heated tobacco products are tobacco products, meaning that the WHO FCTC fully applies to these products. (Decision FCTC/COP8(22)) Specifically, Article 13.4(a) obliges Parties, to prohibit "all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship that promote a tobacco product by any mean
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Regions: United Kingdom
The second edition provides an improved basis for policy debate and informed decision-making at a critical time for global health.
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Science, Technology, and Innovation
During the second quarter of 2020, the INFOSAN Secretariat has been involved in 29 food safety incidents with 59 WHO Member States and two territories of WHO Member States. There were 13 biological hazard incidents (Salmonella [5], Listeria monocytogenes [3], Clostridium botulinum [2], Vibrio cholerae [1], and two involving an unspecified biological hazard), six with a chemical hazard (methanol [3], histamine [2] and patulin [1]), five involving an undeclared allergen (cashew and pistachio [1], sesame [1],
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Regions: Australia , Cambodia , Canada , China, Dominican Republic , France , Hong Kong , Mexico , Singapore , United States
Topics: Combating Drugs and Crime, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy, Global Health
WHO and the Stop TB Partnership’s New Diagnostics Working Group (NDWG) launched today a framework for the evaluation of new tests for tuberculosis infection. The document provides details on study design, populations, reference standards, sample size calculation and data analysis to guide the future development of these tests.
Approximately a quarter of th
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Regions: Italy
Topics: Global Health
Schoolboy Yangyang was growing weaker by the day. When his symptoms worsened into diarrhoea and abdominal pain, his parents took him to the nearest hospital in Guangxi, southeastern China, where the doctor examined him on arrival and administered treatment. To confirm his suspicion, the doctor ordered a fecal examination. The result confirmed that Yangyang was suffering from a parasitic infection of the liver that can be caused by eating raw fish – a traditional dietary practice that has developed into a gr
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Regions: China, United Kingdom
Topics: Energy, Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
Snakebite envenoming is a common problem in many parts of the world, but little
is known about its magnitude in the Arab countries of the Middle East,
where cases are not widely reported. The aim is to halve the numbers of deaths and cases of disability due to snakebite envenoming over the next 12 years through a programme that targets affected communities and their health systems, and by ensuring access to safe, effective treatment through increased cooperation, collaboration and partnership at all leve
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Regions: Jordan , Kuwait , Syria , United Kingdom , Yemen
Topics: Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation
On World Hepatitis Day 2020, WHO is calling for united and stepped-up action to prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B (HBV), a preventable viral infection that attacks the liver and claims the lives of nearly 900 000 people each year.
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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health
The European Medicines Agency announced today that its human medicines committee provided a positive benefit-risk opinion on the use of the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring (DPV-VR) for HIV prevention. WHO stresses that when providing HIV prevention for women it is always critical to provide these alongside other services including STI diagnosis and treatment, HIV testing and links to antiretroviral therapy for all women who test positive and a range of contraception options.
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Regions: Kenya
Topics: Global Health, Global Women's Issues
Almost two decades of global work has drastically reduced the number of people at risk of blindness from trachoma from 1.5 billion in 2002 to under 137 million in May 2020 – a 91% decrease. Also in 2002, there were an estimated 7.6 million people with trachomatous trichiasis (TT); by May 2020, this figure had dropped by 74% to 2 million. The 2020 figures represent decreases of 4% and 20%, respectively, since the corresponding 2019 estimates.
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Regions: China, Iran , Nepal
Topics: Climate and Environment, Global Health, Global Women's Issues
The findings from new estimates, published in The Lancet Global Health, and jointly authored by the Guttmacher Institute and HRP, suggest that over the past 30 years, more women and individuals than ever before have been able to limit or space their pregnancies.
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Topics: Global Health, Global Women's Issues
Launching today, the COVID-19 Law Lab initiative gathers and shares legal documents from over 190 countries across the world to help states establish and implement strong legal frameworks to manage the pandemic. The goal is to ensure that laws protect the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities and that they adhere to international human rights standards.
The new Lab (at www.COVIDLawLab.org) is a joint project of United Nations D
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Regions: United Kingdom
Topics: Climate and Environment, Combating Drugs and Crime, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Science, Technology, and Innovation
Neurological disorders are the number one cause of disability globally. The five largest contributors are stroke, migraine, dementia, meningitis and epilepsy. Yet, the burden of neurological disorders is widely unrecognized.
Good-quality medicines, given at the right time, can save the lives of pregnant and recently pregnant women and their newborn babies. New evidence synthesis reveals however, that in many health-care settings across the world, women with life-threatening
maternal complications are given poor quality medicines – putting their lives and well-being at grave risk.
The systematic review, authored by staff at WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research
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Topics: Combating Drugs and Crime, Global Women's Issues
GENEVA — A new Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco aims to help the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users quit. Stopping smoking is more important than ever as evidence reveals that smokers are more likely than non-smokers to have severe outcomes from COVID-19.
The project gives people free access to nicotine replacement therapy and to Florence, a digital health worker, based on artificial intelligence that dispels myths around COVID-19 and tobacco and helps people develop a personalized plan
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Regions: Jordan , New Zealand
Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
India is among the countries most dramatically affected by snakebite and accounts for almost half the total number of annual deaths in the world. Authors of the article entitled ‘Trends in snakebite mortality in India from 2000 to 2019 in a nationally representative mortality study’
analysed 2,833 snakebite deaths from 611,483 verbal autopsies from an earlier study1 and conducted a systematic lit
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Regions: Canada , India
Topics: Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation
Today, more than 20 leading biopharmaceutical companies are announcing the launch of the AMR Action Fund that will invest in developing innovative antibacterial treatments. The Fund aims to bring 2-4 new treatments to patients by 2030. This initiative is a significant step towards addressing the current crisis in antibacterial treatment development.
WHO Director-General today announced the initiation of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) to evaluate the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.